


Different Worlds

by Leni



Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-16
Updated: 2011-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-23 19:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years after the finale, Mick and Beth are still struggling though their relationship.... and Josef considers the whole thing the best entertainment in decades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Different Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [The Doomed 'Ship Comment Ficathon](http://anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com/760101.html).

“You shouldn’t be here,” Beth hisses, flicking off her flashlight and too aware of the speed of her heartbeats. Bad enough to be on this part of town at two in the morning. Feeling a man materialize at her back almost made her screech in fright, then steam in fury as she realized who it was. “Go, Mick. I’ve got this.”

She can’t distinguish his features in the dark, but his tone is tense. “You’ve got five drug dealers, No, six. And they all have guns.”

Many times she wonders just how accurate his hearing is. From where she is, she can barely make out some male voices drifting out from the half-closed window. “I know,” she lies. Her informant’s notes spoke only of three men at this meeting. “I told you. I’m on top of this one.”

He doesn’t move, and she knows he’s staring at the front door of the house she’s watching.

“You’re being stubborn,” she tells him under her breath, sure that he’ll catch the anger in her whisper. “What do you expect, Mick? That they’ll find me out and come out shooting?”

“Not necessarily in that order.”

Nothing happens, but the fact that she was right doesn’t make Beth feel better. She waits until all her marks have driven off, and then cracks her neck, envious that extended periods in the same position don’t bother him. “Don’t follow me,” she warns, and goes to her car.

 

*

 

Josef gestures to the clock beside the balcony glass doors. “Let’s not make an habit out of this, Mick.” He makes the pretense of a yawn. “My guests kept me up until late, and don’t you have that sweet human to do the same for you?”

Mick doesn’t raise to the bait, though. “I need a favor.”

“I feel taken advantage of,” Josef complains, still playing at imposed upon friend. When Mick doesn’t press or insist on the validity of his request, the older vampire is quick to sober up. “Ah. It is serious, then.” Not even Lorena ever managed to get Mick so close to the edge. Not even for his first sire would he have come to ask for Josef’s aid. They both know that Josef will extract a full price.

Mick’s love is a wonderful thing in Josef’s life, at least for the foreseeable decade. “What does your lady require?”

 

*

 

Beth gets a phone call just before lunch break. The voice is familiar, though now it wavers between accusatory and afraid. “You said you’d only watch,” her informant says, and Beth imagines him pressing the cell phone against his mouth so that the device will catch his low words, “They’ll know it was me. You bitch. You’ve killed me.”

The call goes dead, and Beth stares at the receiver in her hand. After some indeterminate time, she notices other people giving her wary glances.

“You okay, sweetie?” one of the older reporters asks.

Beth looks at her. “Yes, Julie,” she says, even though she can tell Julie doesn’t believe her. She puts the phone back in its cradle, and collects her purse. “Just a little row with my soon-to-be-ex boyfriend.”

Julie cringes at the tone. “Oh dear. And he seemed so nice!”

“Too nice,” Beth agrees.

On her way out, she hears the name of one of the men she staked out last night. Bodies have been found, then. It won’t affect her story – last night’s meeting was a link in a long chain; but if her current informant survives the aftershocks and tells the tale, her reputation will be destroyed.

He must have had a reason, Beth reminds herself as she stalks to her car. Mick never strikes against humans unless he must.

But, damn it, it better be reason enough to threaten to spoil _her_ work.

 

*

 

It’s been three years, and she and Mick seem stuck in the same dance. They come together; they drift apart – but only for a step, then their eyes meet, attraction pulls her back into his arms, and she forgets that three years are little for him, but could be essential for her.

“This has to stop.”

Words she cannot bring herself to say to Mick. For all his power, Josef makes a better target for her frustration. He may send her away or mock her feelings, or both; but his rejection cannot hurt her.

Josef raises an eyebrow, shows her into one of the seats before his desk. He stays on his feet, eyes dancing in amusement as he waits for the rest.

“I’m not five anymore,” Beth starts, grasping onto the arms of the chair to stop herself from crossing her arms over her chest. No need to look the grumpy teenager in front of Mick’s pedantic best friend. “I don’t need to be rescued.”

Josef’s lips part into a smile, rarer because of its honesty. “You’ve just knowingly walked into a vampire’s lair, pressed and pushed my army of secretaries for a private meeting. I’d say Mick has grounds to be worried – even if they lack logic. You’ve also just showed your own resourcefulness.” He adjusts his tie, and for a moment Beth thinks that he’ll wink. “I’m not the easiest person to get to, after all. My reputation hinges on my unavailability.”

“Yeah. You’re an important guy,” she agrees dryly, giving into an eyeroll at his self-importance. That he is right does not make a particular impression on her. Three years have done a lot to unveil the mystery around Josef Kostan. “Now tell me you’ll get Mick to back off. I love him, but I _will_ end things if he continues the watchdog role.”

“You mean it now as much as you’ve meant it the other times,” he comments. Before Beth can protest, he holds out a hand and nods. “I’ll talk to my boy. Perhaps I will find another tree for him to bark at. Would that satisfy?”

He never gives in this easily, Beth thinks. Before agreeing with him, she cuts to the chase. “What do you want in exchange?”

He chuckles at that. “Well, well. Look at that. Mick’s girl _is_ growing up.”

 

*

 

“Beth,” his voice comes through her door.

She remembers the beginning of their relationship, when both stood on either side of that door and pretended they could let go. How much simpler it was. If she had known it, she’d have never invited him in.

“Don’t dare to come in,” she warns in a whisper.

When steps echo down the hallway, and the elevator dings to accept him, Beth almost wishes she’d have opened the door.

 

*

 

Mick has the look of a man told his execution date. “It’s not working.”

“And you're surprised,” Josef laughs.

His friend’s eyes flash, and for that moment he’s decent company at last. “Pretend that you can be supportive, will you?”

“A tall order.” Josef turns his back on Mick to pour two glasses of wine. He hands out one with a small smirk, “For you, my friend, I shall do my best.” He sets his features into a memory of concern. “What distresses our dear Miss Turner?” Mick stares at the dark liquid in his cup, surely having detected the distinct vintage added to it. Lovely girl, she was, always willing to give a fuller body to his favorite wine. “Does this have anything to do with the sudden break in the investigation she was leading?”

That distracts Mick away from the smell of fresh blood. His eyes narrow, and his fingers tighten around the base of the cup. “Are you watching us, Josef?”

Josef does not need to fake the shock at such an idea. “With both you and your dear Beth coming in for counsel,” he adds an extra note of distress, just for effect, “why should I add to my troubles?”

“Beth came?”

“She even had the decency not to interrupt a good dinner.” He raises his cup and tips it towards his uninvited guest. “If you two ever do yourselves a favor and decide for Miss Turner to cross over, I’m tempted to approve. She might be a good influence on you. Given time, I believe she would prove spectacular.” He hides a smile into a sip of the bloodwine, licks his lips off any trace of amusement. “Don’t you think?” The horror in Mick’s face almost cracks through the serious veneer of Josef’s body language. Instead he shrugs and reaches for the crystal goblet to pour himself another drink. “Think about it.”

Mick shakes his head. “We belong to different worlds.”

A drop of crimson spills over as hilarity ensues. Mick looks offended, but Josef can’t care less. “Where have you been these last three years, Mick? I’ve been policing your middle ground, and you haven’t even noticed!”

 

*

 

When Beth wakes up, she is not surprised to find Mick sitting on a chair close to her bed. The sky is still painted black high on her window, and he looks blurry in the neon light that makes its way inside.

She should be angry. A part of her _is_ , but it must the part that is still rubbing its eyes and far from functioning at full alert. “I forget you can pick locks.”

“Part of the job,” he answers, getting to his feet and closing the few steps towards the edge of her bed. “They knew you were there,” he said. “They wanted the story in print, and then they’d kill you for it. To build their reputation.”

She absorbs the news. It’s not surprising, in her line of work, but Beth still feels that frisson of fear. To be so close to Death’s doors and not have known it. To be pushed away from it… without ever telling her. “You could have told me.”

“You’d have convinced me to let the law intervene.”

 _And what’s wrong with that?_ she could ask. But it’s three years later, and Beth knows better than that. “You can’t make me the exception to your rules,” she says.

He stares at her, half disbelieving and half amused. Maybe a little frustrated, too. “Don’t you know? You already are.”

 

The End  
18/09/10


End file.
